INTERVIEW: Tattoo Stories with Demi Lovato

posted by Nicole Mastrogiannis
-
2 years ago

After releasing her fourth album last year and taking over the world on her "Neon Lights Tour," Demi Lovato is ready to do it again with her "Demi Lovato World Tour." The trek is set to kick off in September, and tickets are on sale now.

The singer's latest single off the album "Really Don't Care," which she recently released the music video for, is on the fast track to success. The celeb-packed video showcases Demi's support for the LGBT community filmed partially at the Los Angeles Pride Parade, and features stars like Perez Hilton, Kat Graham, Wilmer Valderrama, Travis Barker, and more.

Check out the new music video for "Really Don't Care" featuring. Cher Lloyd below!

If there's one thing about Demi her Lovatics know, it's that she has plenty of ink. Demi recently stopped by iHeartRadio where she showed us all of her tats, and it turns out, each work of art - in ink - has a meaningful story behind it!

Check out Tattoo Stories with Demi Lovato below:

Demi tells us she was only 16 when she got her first tattoo, and now she has a countless amount. We asked her how many she has now, and she says, "Well, it's difficult because it's like I lost count. It's difficult because, like do you count the 'Stay' and 'Strong?' Do you count the individual birds? And then I have feathers connected to an old tattoo. So I have no idea. I have a lot. It could be 10. It could be 26!"

That's A LOT of ink! But Demi tells us it wasn't too painful for her. She says, "I have a very, very high pain tolerance. So even with my first tattoo, it's on my ribs which is supposed to be like a really sensitive area, I was like trying not to squirm because I was ticklish."

She tells us the tats that hurt the most are on her fingers. "I have finger tattoos. It says 'Rock and roll' and 'Peace,' and that one hurt."

On her first tattoo:

"First tattoo I ever got was song lyrics and they're on my ribs. It says, 'You make me beautiful.' And it's a Christian song, so some people are like, "Who's that for?" And I'm like, "No, it's for God." (Laughs). I was 16. And I got it in some tattoo artist's apartment. Like it was so sketch, it was in L.A. But I wanted to get tattooed so bad. I do things out of rebellion. So that was like one of the main reasons why I got it so young."

On the Africa tattoo on her arm:

"The last tattoo that I got was two at the same time - which is kind of how I like to do it. I got Africa tattooed. I went there for my 21st birthday. I went to Kenya and it was just a very, very inspirational journey that I feel like really had a huge impact on my life. And, I would've gotten Kenya but then people would have been like, "What's that?" (Laughs) So Africa's a little more distinct." .

On the Roman numerals on her wrist:

"I have the number three in Roman numerals on my wrist and that was a number that was very significant to my birth father because he loved Dale Earnhardt. So when he passed away I got the number three tattooed on me to remind me of him, and also because I love Dale Earnhardt. (Laughs). That's like the most redneck tattoo I have, by the way!"

On the "Stay Strong" on her wrists

"I think the, the most meaningful one to me is 'Stay Strong.' It was one of my first few tattoos as well. When I got out of rehab that's the first thing that I did is I went and got tattooed 'Stay Strong' because a lot of fans were telling me that and it helped me get through a rough period. so anytime that I would feel triggered to either self-harm or act out in an unhealthy behavior, I could look down at that and stay strong."

On her birds tat by Kat Von D:

"I wanted more tattoos and I'd never done anything big, and it was very impulsive of me, like the night that I got it. Literally, I had a friend who had a friend that worked with Kat Von D. And so, literally at like 4:00 p.m. my friend hits up her friend, and that guy was out of town but Kat was in town. And so I was like, 'Let's get a tattoo,' which by the way, people like book Kat way in advance! But it was so impulsive, so it was meant to be. I love the freedom that birds represent and I didn't specifically have a huge reason why I got 12 of them. But one day, one of my friends that I was at Sober Living, I was living in her Sober Living house, and they asked, 'So why'd you get ... How many did you get?' And I was like, "I don't know. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and I was like, 'Whoa, I didn't mean to do that.' But it's like, it was kind of like a God thing, like I worked the 12 steps, so as I got that while I was in Sober Living, apparently it was really meant to be."